Combing operation intensified post Naxal attack

Raipur: A day after six CISF jawans and a civilian driver were killed in the Naxal attack in Dantewada district police on Monday intensified combing operation in the region.

Additional Director General of Police (anti-Naxal operation) Ramnivas said that in the wake of the ambush by the Naxals on the CISF troopers near Kirandul, additional police force has been dispatched to the forest to flush out the ultras.

Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) Director General Rajeev and other senior officials have left for the spot of the ambush after discussing the future strategy with senior police officials from the state.

Chief Minister Raman Singh has condemned the incident and appealed to the jawans of police and other paramilitary forces to remain alert in the wake of the strike.

A CISF patrol team comprising six jawans, including a head constable and five constables, apart from the civilian driver of their Bolero vehicle, was ambushed by Naxals with heavy gunfire at around 0930 PM last night when they were guarding the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) facility near Kirandul.

According to Ramnivas, an unknown number of jawans are reported to have been injured in the ambush.

The Kirandul-Bacheli mines of the NMDC in the jungles of Dantewada are a Naxal hotbed and frequent clashes between the Naxals and the security forces are regular in the area.

Official sources had said that five AK-47 rifles, one INSAS gun and a large quantity of ammunition belonging to the CISF were looted by the Naxals after they killed the jawans.

The attack is seen as a major setback to the dialogue process between the state government and the rebels against the backdrop of abduction and subsequent release of Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon.